The Mousy Nerd

What is jazz?

Jazz is rhythm and meaning. ~ Henri Matisse 

Jazz music is an intensified feeling of nonchalance. ~ Francoise Sagan

If it has more than three chords, it’s jazz. ~ Lou Reed

If he’s a true symphony artist, he knows better than that because he knows that the only truly creative musician is the jazz musician. ~ Buddy Rich

Jazz is about being in the moment. ~ Herbie Hancock

Jazz is not the kind of music you are going to learn to play in three or four years or that you can just get because you have some talent for music. ~ Wynton Marsalis

The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas. ~ Miles Davis

There’s the tradition in jazz of having the Battle of the Bands, and you do not want to get your head cut when you’re playing. ~ Wynton Marsalis

That’s the thing about jazz: it’s free flowing, it comes from your soul. 

~ Billy Crystal

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains. ~ John Philip Sousa

But if you have to ask what jazz really is, you’ll never know. ~ Louis Armstrong